


Ghosts of the Past

by thetransgirlwhoneverwas



Series: Fictober 2020 [19]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27168523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetransgirlwhoneverwas/pseuds/thetransgirlwhoneverwas
Summary: Aqua has returned to the Realm of Darkness once again, accompanied by Terra and Ventus. She has her companions with her this time - but her fears and doubts never truly left her.
Series: Fictober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952200
Kudos: 9





	Ghosts of the Past

Aqua walked into the Realm of Darkness once again, but this time she wasn’t alone. The portal behind her faded as she dismissed her armour, and behind her Terra and Ventus did the same. She breathed in deeply. It hadn’t been long since she was here last. It hadn’t been long since she had been trapped here. She told herself it was the same now, that it was just as dangerous as last time and that she needed to be careful. But she didn’t really believe it. She was with Terra and Ventus this time. She was with her family.

As if on cue, Ventus spoke up.

“Aqua,” he stepped forward to her side. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be alright Ven,” she reassured him.

“Aqua,” Terra stepped forward too. “If you want to go back, at any point, we can go back.”

“Thank you,” she said, “but I’m okay. I have you with me. Nothing can stand against the three of us.”

“Are you so sure of that?” came a hauntingly familiar voice from all around them, and Aqua gasped, but while Terra and Ventus summoned their Keyblades and looked around for whatever had warranted such a reaction, Aqua realised they hadn’t heard the voice.

“What is it?” Terra asked with urgency in his voice, but Aqua shook her head.

“Nothing,” she told him. “Just...just a memory.”

The three began their journey, not entirely sure of what they were looking for, but determined regardless. Attacks came from the Heartless inhabiting the realm, as they had expected, but as they had expected them, they were prepared. Aqua had been right to be confident: powerful as she was, creatures and hordes that had given her trouble during her travels alone fell to the three of them like grass before fire. The three fought in perfect sync with each other, even after so long apart. Even after all this time, they were still a team. A family.

“And yet where were they when you needed them?” the voice returned, although this time Aqua didn’t react. It wasn’t real. Just a voice from before, coming back to haunt her. It was nothing.

“Nothing?” it asked. “But you can hear me. I’m still here thanks to you. You still remember me.”

Aqua continued to ignore it as she, Terra and Ventus continued to walk through the darkness. As they did, more and more the Heartless stopped attacking and started shying away from them. Aqua had never seen the Heartless to ignore potential prey, even when that prey was orders of magnitude stronger than them.

“Do you see that?” she asked the others.

“Even the Heartless know they can’t beat us!” Ventus exclaimed, and pumped his fist in excitement.

“Perhaps they have some form of hive mind?” Terra theorised. “Or at least they’re learning that it will take more to take us down.”

“The Heartless don’t need to fight you,” the voice came back. “You’re going to fall apart again, just like you did before, and the darkness will devour you.”

“That’s enough,” Aqua stopped in her tracks.

“Aqua?” Ventus asked. “Are you okay?”

“Do you need to go back?” Terra asked, but Aqua shook her head.

“No,” she insisted. “I need to finish this. Here and now.”

“You thought you had already finished me,” the voice taunted. “But I’ll be with you forever. You know I will.”

“Shut up,” she demanded, bringing out her Keyblade again. “Show yourself.”

Terra and Ventus clearly had no idea what she was talking about, but as Terra laid a hand on her shoulder, he quickly retracted it and summoned his own Keyblade as darkness swirled in front of them. Out of the vortex strode a face that Aqua was intensely familiar with: her own.

“You could never escape me,” the phantom Aqua mocked the real Aqua. “I’m a part of you. I am your fear. I am your pain. I am your darkness. You can never be free of me.”

Aqua crouched slightly into a fighting stance. “I’ll be free of you. I’ll defeat you as many times as I have to.”

The phantom laughed, the awful, grating sound echoing around her. “You can’t defeat me. You can try again and again but you will just keep bringing me back. As long as your doubts exist, I will exist to exploit them. You can fight forever but I will keep haunting you. Eventually you will weaken. Eventually I will win. And you will be lost to the darkness. It is inevitable.”

Aqua tightened her grip on her weapon, but Ventus stepped forward in front of her, placing himself between Aqua and her phantom, holding his own Keyblade in a reversed fighting grip. “I don’t know what you are, but you leave Aqua alone! She’s gone through enough!”

The phantom laughed again. “Is the boy going to fight me? Can you not fight your own battles, Aqua? Or are you happy to send your friends to fight and die for your sake?”

“Stay back, Ven,” Aqua warned him. “I need to finish this myself.”

“No, Aqua, you don’t,” Terra stepped in front of her as well, brandishing his own Keyblade. “We’re here for you. You don’t have to fight alone. We fight together. As a family.”

“As a family!” agreed Ventus.

Aqua felt a single tear of joy well up in her eye, but she blinked it away. She could cry later. Now she - they - had to fight. She stepped forward. “As a family,” she nodded. 

The three of them pointed their Keyblades and, almost unprompted, beams of light shot from all of them, illuminating the entire void around them. Before the phantom had a chance to react it was hit, and before it had the chance to defend itself, or throw out another taunt, or even yell in anger and frustration, the phantom melted away, back into the shadows as if it had never been there.

Aqua sighed in relief, and a weight and heaviness she hadn’t realised had been on her mind were lifted. Terra and Ventus turned to her, but they all three realised that nothing needed to be said. She smiled at them, and they smiled back. Aqua cast her gaze ahead, and walked forward to continue the search, and her family walked alongside her.


End file.
